00:00	Right, I want to speak about overcoming discouragement.
00:08	Again, nothing to do.
00:11	This message was planned weeks ago.
00:14	I started thinking about it weeks ago and I thought I'd be speaking to myself this morning, but I'm not.
00:20	I'm speaking to Turkish and Germans and anyone else, yes.
00:29	Anyhow, let me read this to you.
00:32	Once upon a time, the devil announced he was going to sell all his tools to those who were willing to pay the price.
00:40	On the day of the sale, all his tools were attractively displayed.
00:46	There was envy, jealousy, hatred, malice, deceit, sensuality, pride, idolatry, and other implements of evil on display.
00:57	Each had its own price.
01:01	In the corner by itself was a harmless-looking wedge-shaped object.
01:08	It looked well-worn and well-used.
01:11	One of the buyers came up to the devil and said, what's that?
01:15	And the devil hissed back at him, that's not for sale.
01:19	Why?
01:20	said the second buyer.
01:22	That's my number one tool.
01:25	That's discouragement.
01:28	The next question came, why is it not for sale?
01:32	Because, replied the devil, it's more useful to me than any and all of these objects put together.
01:40	With this, I pry open and I get into a person's heart when I cannot get near him or her with any other tool.
01:49	Once I get inside, I can use him or her in whichever way suits me best.
01:55	It's well-worn because I've used it on everybody and few people even know it belongs to me.
02:05	How many of us have never felt the pain or the weight or the heavy heart of discouragement?
02:16	We all have.
02:17	We have all had opportunities where discouragement has had an opportunity to set into our heart and take root.
02:26	And it's the devil's number one tool.
02:31	Most people in the Bible that you read of, in fact anybody in the Bible who ever accomplished anything felt discouraged at some time or another.
02:39	Even those who were called of God, specifically called of God, anointed, appointed, commissioned of God, all of them have had opportunity
02:50	to be discouraged.
02:53	Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.
02:54	You said the entrance of your word brings light and as we delve into your word, I pray Father that we receive revelation and understanding and knowledge as to how to live a victorious Christian life in Jesus' name.
03:08	Can you remember in 1 Samuel chapter 16 and 17 how David was presented towards Samuel and he was to be anointed to be king?
03:23	How they had to go and find him because he was actually... You look into the history of it in extra biblical manuscripts, ancient manuscripts, you'll find that David was very, very ostracized, you understand the word, set apart from the rest of his family.
03:45	And if you look at some of those extra biblical manuscripts which are ancient, it'll give you understanding as to why he said, I was born in iniquity.
03:55	And why he would cry over his food and things like that.
03:59	Just go and have a little look about that but that's not what this message is about.
04:02	But anyhow, he wasn't even there when Samuel said I'm going to come and anoint your sons.
04:08	He was away somewhere looking after sheep
04:13	but he was yet the one anointed.
04:16	And as soon as he's anointed, you'd think he'd be off to the palace, give him my robes, give me the horses, in our days it would be, give me the car, give me the horses, give me all the food and the wine and the nice palace.
04:29	But no, he went straight back to the field to look after the dirty sheep.
04:35	And sheep were disgusting in those days, they were low life, sort of low sort of on the occupational ladder.
04:43	If you were a farm, if you were a sheep herder, you just weren't, you weren't there in society.
04:50	But that's where he went.
04:53	And how then later on he's called to play music for Saul.
04:56	And you'd think he was saying yeah, but I'm anointed for this job.
04:59	I'm anointed for his job.
05:01	Yet all I'm doing is playing in the band.
05:04	But I'm anointed for that job.
05:07	How he eventually was sent to the battlefield but not to fight.
05:11	He was sent to the battlefield to take cheese and bread.
05:15	Yet the Bible said he was a mighty man of war.
05:21	How he then stood before Saul and then he faced Goliath but then had to run and hide.
05:28	You'd surely think that come this time that I've defeated Israel's number one enemy, I'm gonna be anointed as king.
05:36	The people are gonna rise up, they're gonna put me as king.
05:38	But no, he then goes on the run and hides from Saul.
05:44	And many of his psalms are his lamenting to the Lord about the heartache that he's feeling when he's on the run, hiding in the caves.
05:55	Saul's out to get him.
06:00	Just a side thought here.
06:02	It's easy for us to think that complicated problems deserve a complicated answer.
06:11	But we'll find that it's not always the case.
06:14	I mentioned this in the earlier service.
06:16	They agreed with me, by the way, so you know.
06:18	Just a cue.
06:22	During the COVID pandemic years, everybody's trying to figure out the complicated way to fix this complicated situation.
06:30	But do you know, the reality of it, it was quite simple, and that was stay away from each other.
06:38	See, the answer is simple, obviously.
06:41	The application of it is where the challenge comes in.
06:43	But the answer was simple.
06:45	If you stayed in your corner and I stayed in my corner and we never interacted with each other, it would have been done and dusted.
06:53	The application is where the challenge is.
06:55	And that's the truth with the word of God.
06:56	I'll be honest with you.
06:57	That's the truth with the word of God.
07:00	But it's not always the case that a complicated solution, a complicated problem, warrants a complicated answer.
07:08	You think of Moses.
07:11	The challenges that Moses faced.
07:13	But what did the Lord say?
07:14	He said, what is in your hand?
07:17	What is in your hand?
07:19	You think of the servants at the wedding in Cana.
07:24	What's handy?
07:24	Well, there's water pots and there's water.
07:27	You think of the woman with the two mites.
07:32	That's all she had.
07:34	You think of all these people.
07:35	You think about Israel walking around the walls of Jericho.
07:39	You think, well, that's easy enough to do.
07:43	You could see them thinking, how are we going to, you know, the big wall, they're this high and they're this wide and they're like that.
07:51	And God says, walk around them.
07:55	Simple answer to a complicated problem.
08:00	In John chapter five, we're told this for the basis, the foundation for an overcoming life.
08:06	Let me ask you this question.
08:08	How many of you want to live an overcoming life?
08:13	What about the rest of you?
08:16	How many of you want to live a victorious overcoming life?
08:20	That's better.
08:21	I see that hand.
08:22	I see that hand.
08:23	I see.
08:23	We all do, don't we?
08:25	The Bible tells us this in one John five, verse four and five, for everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.
08:32	And this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.
08:36	Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the son of God?
08:43	There is the simple solution for the most complex problem.
08:49	And when David was faced with Goliath, he used what was in his hand, a sling and a rod and a pocket full of stones.
09:01	And here's my point.
09:04	So many times the answer is so simple that we reason ourselves out of doing it because of its simplicity.
09:15	We think up against my problem, what is this going to accomplish?
09:20	Up against what I'm facing, what is what I feel God has told me to do going to do?
09:26	And you can think, you can understand how the Israelites walking around the wall, I'm walking around this wall, when and ever has walking around a wall brought the wall down?
09:35	They could easily have talked themselves out of it.
09:40	Well, in first Samuel 17, verse 32, David said this to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of this giant.
09:51	Your servant will go and fight this Philistine.
09:56	David was saying to Saul, Don't be overwhelmed.
09:59	Don't be discouraged.
10:00	Don't let your heart sink because of what is facing you.
10:05	You see, by this time, David had already fought the bear and the lion and his faith had grown.
10:11	And I think we often think that the first challenge David had was Goliath, but no, he'd faced the challenge of a bear and of a lion.
10:22	I tried to get something out of Pippo.
10:26	You know, anybody know who Pippo is, if I say Pippo?
10:29	Mark and Joyce have a dog, it's called Pippo.
10:30	I tried to get something out of its mouth.
10:34	What a challenge.
10:38	Sometimes, sorry, I don't know where that came from.
10:43	But David said, because of his confidence in God's actions in the past, his confidence in God, that it'll be the same for this giant as it was for the lion and the bear.
10:56	In fact, he said, I will do exactly what I did.
11:00	It'll be no different to this Philistine.
11:03	So I want to put you in remembrance and just put your mind, focus your mind a little bit on some simple steps.
11:10	And I'll tell you that these are so simple.
11:13	I hope you don't go away from this sermon saying, ah, this was all new to me.
11:19	I hope you say, yeah, I knew that.
11:21	And I knew that.
11:22	And I knew that.
11:23	I've got five points that will help you overcome discouragement.
11:29	They're so simple.
11:31	You could talk yourself out of doing them because of their simplicity.
11:35	Number one is don't give up.
11:38	Don't give up.
11:39	Galatians 6 verse 9 says this, let us not get tired of doing good because in time we'll have a harvest if we don't give up.
11:50	And the most important word is if.
11:54	Because if you give up, you have no guarantee of a harvest.
11:58	But if you don't give up, guess what's coming your way?
12:01	The Bible is true.
12:05	Don't give up.
12:06	In 1 Samuel 16, David is anointed as king.
12:09	By the prophet.
12:12	And he's ordained by God to be the king of Israel.
12:15	And he's described as a mighty man, a valiant man, a man of war.
12:21	And the Lord is with him.
12:22	But in chapter 17, as I've already said, this mighty man of war is running backwards and forwards feeding sheep and playing music for Saul.
12:34	That's what he's doing.
12:37	But David didn't let that situation discourage him.
12:42	David didn't let it discourage him.
12:46	Here's a point if you're taking notes, delay is not denial.
12:51	Delay is not denial.
12:54	So many times we think, well, if it hasn't happened by 12 o 'clock, it's not going to happen.
12:59	If it hasn't happened by 1 o 'clock, it's not going to happen.
13:02	Listen, just because it hasn't happened now doesn't mean it's not going to happen in the future.
13:07	Delay is not denial.
13:09	But the key is you not fainting, you not giving up.
13:12	Between the amen and the manifestation, there's something called the walk of faith.
13:21	And do you know what the walk of faith looks like?
13:23	The walk of faith starts off here.
13:26	In Jesus' name, amen.
13:29	And you walk and you don't see it, but you have a confidence in your heart.
13:32	You walk and you don't see it, but you have a belief.
13:35	So you're confessing the word, you're believing the word, you're testifying, you're giving thanks to God, but you don't see it.
13:40	Maybe you see a little glimmer, but you keep on walking and you keep on walking, you keep on trusting, you keep on doing the right thing, you keep on saying thank you, you keep on coming to church, you keep on the right heart, the right attitude, and eventually you see it, but it's the size of a man's hand.
13:59	You start giving thanks and you start giving thanks and you start praising God, because guess what?
14:04	Rain's coming.
14:05	Your answer's coming.
14:07	Deliverance is coming.
14:08	Breakthrough is coming.
14:10	Something better is coming.
14:11	That job is coming.
14:12	That promotion is coming.
14:14	That qualification is coming.
14:15	That visa's being granted.
14:17	You've just got to keep doing the right thing and choose in your heart that I'm not giving up.
14:23	Number one is don't give up.
14:27	Number two is God is for me.
14:30	So many times we think God is against us.
14:34	Really, have you ever thought that through?
14:38	If God was against you, set your timer.
14:42	How long?
14:44	If God was really against you, how long do you think you'd last?
14:49	Go.
14:53	Just the... And then we're gone.
14:55	That's it.
14:57	If that was... If God was... God is not against you.
15:01	I'll tell you what is against you.
15:03	Yeah, we know the devil is against you, but your own flesh is against you.
15:09	Your own flesh is against you.
15:11	God is not your enemy.
15:13	You know, we've got the devil resisting us.
15:15	We've got our flesh resisting us.
15:16	We don't need God resisting us.
15:20	God is for us.
15:22	In Romans 8 verse 31, it says, if God is for us, who can be against us?
15:29	The implication there is nobody, nothing can stand in our way if God is for us.
15:35	David proved this.
15:37	He only had God on his side.
15:38	He didn't have anyone else.
15:41	His brothers weren't for him.
15:43	They actually tried to put him off.
15:48	The mischief of your heart they talked about.
15:51	Who have you left those few sheep with?
15:56	But David proved he only had God on his side and he knew that God was for him.
16:04	He said to the Philistines in verse 45,
16:07	you come to me with the sword and with the spear and with the shield, but I come to you in the name of the Lord, the God of the host,
16:14	the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied.
16:17	This day, this day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand.
16:22	I want you to notice the emphasis on David's battle wasn't what he could get for himself.
16:27	It wasn't about him.
16:28	It was all about the Lord.
16:30	And I'll tell you something.
16:31	When we go to prayer and we believe God, we believe in God.
16:35	We want to glorify his name.
16:36	We want to make his name glorified.
16:39	Isn't that right?
16:39	It's not about us.
16:43	Everything we pray for, everything we believe God for, is so we glorify God.
16:46	That's got to be our direction, the object of our faith.
16:51	The Lord will deliver you into my hand.
16:53	I will smite you and take your head from you.
16:56	I will give the carcass of the host of the Philistines this day to the fowl of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth that all the earth may know there's a God in Israel.
17:06	And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saves, not with the sword, not with the spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into my hands.
17:15	He went global right there.
17:18	Started off local, ended up global.
17:22	The whole world is going to know about this.
17:24	His confidence wasn't in his own ability.
17:28	Yes, he used what he had in his hand, but his confidence was in the Lord.
17:31	His trust was in the Lord.
17:33	Number one is don't give up.
17:35	Number two is God is for me.
17:36	Number three, remember this, there is always a prize waiting.
17:41	There's a prize waiting.
17:43	1 Corinthians 9 .24 says this.
17:46	Do not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize.
17:51	Run in such a way that you may win.
17:55	Now let's not get confused here.
17:57	This isn't talking about internal competition.
17:59	The only person I'm running my race against is my flesh and my soul.
18:04	You understand that?
18:06	I'm running my race.
18:07	I'm not running your race.
18:09	But I know this, that at the end of the day, there is a prize.
18:13	And the same is for you.
18:15	The same is true for you.
18:16	There's a prize waiting.
18:18	For David, it was a physical one.
18:20	But his prize, his joy, and it should be the joy of our heart, is that it brings glory to God.
18:27	And that's exactly what David's heart was, that all the world may know that there is a God in Israel.
18:33	I wonder if we really dug down into the depths of our heart, the prayer that you're praying, is it for you or is it so God will be glorified?
18:41	It should be that God is glorified.
18:45	But there is a byproduct of putting God first, isn't there?
18:50	Jesus said it's this, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything else, all the things.
18:57	First of all, he started saying, what shall we eat?
19:01	What shall we drink?
19:02	What shall we worry about?
19:02	What should we be concerned about?
19:04	All those different things.
19:05	He said all those things the Gentiles worry about.
19:10	But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, his way of going about things, his way of doing things, and all the things.
19:18	See, God's not bothered about the things.
19:22	He just wants them in the right order.
19:25	Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.
19:30	Remember, there's a prize waiting.
19:34	Number one, don't give up.
19:35	Number two, God is for me.
19:37	Number three, there's a prize waiting.
19:39	Number four, even though the struggle is real, it's only temporary.
19:48	Even though your struggle is real, it's only temporary.
19:54	The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4, for momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond comparison.
20:07	Isn't that amazing that we can look back
20:11	on circumstances that we've gone through and say in comparison to what is waiting, this is light affliction.
20:18	This is temporary.
20:19	This is just temporary.
20:22	Who knows where this situation would have wound up if David hadn't arrived on the scene because he was upset, because he got offended, because he allowed discouragement to enter in.
20:35	Listen, it's very, very important here that you don't make permanent decisions because of a temporary situation.
20:43	You don't make a permanent decision.
20:45	You don't make long-lasting decisions based on a short moment in time.
20:50	People in England, what they do is they'll get into debt and then they'll sell their debt to another company
20:56	because they just don't want to wait.
21:00	They make permanent decisions or long-term decisions based on short-term discomfort.
21:07	Esau is somebody who did that.
21:08	He sold his birthright because he was hungry, so he sold his birthright.
21:17	What kind of person is that?
21:18	That's why the Bible says he was profane and he despised his birthright, so he sold it.
21:27	We don't know where Israel could have been.
21:29	Maybe they could have surrendered.
21:30	Maybe they would have ended up surrendering to the Philistines.
21:33	We don't know.
21:35	But they weren't thinking about the battle.
21:36	There had been at least 40 days conflict between them, but nothing had happened.
21:47	Setbacks, times of discouragement are only for a moment in time.
21:52	They're only for a moment in time.
21:54	Yes, the struggle is real, but it's only temporary.
21:58	And the fifth thing here is this.
22:02	Everything will work out for good.
22:08	Everything will work out for good.
22:10	The Bible says this, and we know that all things work together for good for those who love God to those who are called according to his purpose.
22:22	Romans 8.
22:24	Somebody once said this.
22:26	It'll be all right at the end.
22:30	So if it's not the end, so if it's not all right, it's not the end.
22:34	Let me say that again.
22:35	It'll be all right in the end.
22:38	So if it's not all right, it's not the end.
22:46	We know that David did exactly what he said he would do.
22:50	He went, he fought, he won, and there was great rejoicing.
22:56	And even though this wasn't the end of David's troubles, he went on the run.
23:00	He hid from Saul.
23:02	He had to pretend to be a madman.
23:04	He went and lived amongst the Philistines.
23:06	We know that wasn't the end of David's troubles.
23:10	But it was only for a moment.
23:13	David still goes down as a man after God's own heart, a man who served God in his generation.
23:24	I want to tell you this.
23:26	Obedience to God's word releases the power in his word.
23:32	Obedience to God's word releases the power in his word.
23:39	Fill these water pots.
23:43	It was the obedience to God's word that caused that miracle to happen.
23:49	Fill them to the brim.
23:51	Take them to the governor of the feast.
23:54	And measure it out for them to drink.
23:57	I wonder at what point the miracle took place.
24:00	But the power in the word was released when they were obedient.
24:05	When Jesus was walking on the water and Peter said, Lord, if it's you, bid me come.
24:09	When was the power released?
24:11	The power was released when he was obedient.
24:15	Isn't that right?
24:16	That's when the power was released.
24:19	When was the power released in Jericho?
24:21	It was when they walked around the walls.
24:23	Whilst they stood there, nothing was happening.
24:26	Whilst they were walking around once, nothing happened.
24:29	Walk around twice, nothing happened.
24:31	Walk around three times.
24:32	On the seventh day, walk around, blow the trumpets.
24:35	Things took place.
24:36	It was obedience to the word.
24:38	When Peter cast his net to the other side, it was obedience.
24:42	But you notice, every single one of them could have talked themselves out of it for it being so simple.
24:47	It was so simple.
24:50	They could have talked themselves out.
24:53	You know, in life, we encounter obstacles.
24:56	We all have.
24:58	I remember hearing a story about a man who was just, I don't know what, I don't know what was wrong with him.
25:05	He was in the shopping mall.
25:09	And he was just observing people.
25:11	And he saw this man that stood out from everybody else.
25:13	The way he was dressed was just, I guess he was hip.
25:17	He was cool.
25:17	He was whatever it was.
25:18	But he was walking, you know, I'm not going to pretend to be cool or anything like that.
25:23	But he was just walking down.
25:24	And he saw him walk around.
25:26	And he got on an elevator.
25:27	And he was wearing flurry trousers, you know, baggy jeans.
25:30	And he caught his jeans caught in the elevator.
25:33	And he took a tumble down this elevator.
25:35	Head over heels, over heels, head over heels.
25:38	He landed on his feet.
25:40	His hat was in the air.
25:41	He picked his hat out of the air, put it on his head and said, well, all right.
25:46	And so many times that's what we need to do in our Christian life.
25:49	We may take a tumble.
25:50	The Bible says so.
25:52	A righteous man fall, he'll get up again.
25:54	And I believe that you and I, if we take these tumbles, we begin to put into practice these words, we might tumble, we might tumble.
26:01	But I'll tell you something, we'll land on our feet, we'll put our hat on our head and say, well, all right.
26:06	And when the dust settles in this fight, you and God will be standing.
26:13	You and God will be standing.
26:14	I want to encourage you, church, don't give up.
26:19	Remember God is for you.
26:21	Remember there's a prize.
26:23	The struggle might be real, but it's temporary.
26:26	But everything will work out for good.
26:29	In Jesus' name, amen.